ST. PAUL, Minn. — Even as the Wild began to distance themselves from their early-season woes, their record at home was still an eyesore.
But not anymore.
While securing their sixth consecutive victory at Xcel Energy Center, a 4-1 rout against the Blackhawks on Friday in front of 18,501, the Wild also picked up their fourth victory overall to match their longest run of the season.
During that span, the Wild have been scored on only three times.
Mats Zuccarello potted a hat trick and added an assist to continue his point streak, Kirill Kaprizov had a goal and two assists, and their center Sam Steel pocketed two helpers.
Behind them, Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 29 shots from the team that traded him to the Wild last season.
The Wild can go for the sweep when this four-game homestand finishes on Sunday afternoon against Ottawa.
During the team's first homestand to open the season, the Wild narrowly avoided getting swept.
They started 1-3 and then dropped three of their next four in St. Paul. That put them at five regulation losses at home, this when they had only seven at Xcel Energy Center all last season.
But since a one-goal lapse to Toronto on Nov. 25, the Wild have been unbeatable.
More recently, scoring first has been the trend and that continued vs. Chicago.
Just 4 minutes, 54 seconds into the first period, the Wild capitalized off a slick passing sequence that swung the puck from Steel to Kaprizov to Zuccarello for the redirect.
The goal pushed Zuccarello's point streak to nine games, which is one shy of his career record set last season; during this tear, Zuccarello's racked up 14 points.
The assist, Kaprizov's 20th of the season, marked the 11th consecutive game he's snagged at least a point at home. Toronto's Mitch Marner has the longest active home point streak in the NHL at 12 games.
Kaprizov is tied with Jason Pominville (2014-15) for the second-longest run in team history; Marian Gaborik's 14-game blitz in 2007-08 is the record.
Then 8:32 into the second, it was Zuccarello who set up Kaprizov, his team-leading 18th goal a shot that eventually trickled into the net behind Blackhawks goalie Petr Mrazek.
This was the 25th time this season Kaprizov and Zuccarello have factored into the same goal; the only other teammate duos to accomplish that feat 25 or more times are Edmonton's Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl (32) and Tampa Bay's Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov (25).
Steel's assist gave him his second two-point effort of the season. Since teaming up with Kaprizov and Zuccarello on Nov. 19, Steel has eight of his 11 points.
With 43 seconds left in the second, Zuccarello's shot on the power play into an empty net with Mrazek out of position sealed his 12th goal. He buried No. 13 into an empty net with 2:09 left in the third, his second career hat trick; his first was Oct. 30, 2015, against Toronto. Kaprizov also had an assist on that goal.
Mrazek ended up making 18 saves for a Chicago team that was wrapping up a back-to-back after hosting Vegas on Thursday and has dropped six in a row and 14 of its past 15.
The Blackhawks' lone goal came on the power play at 8:27 of the third, a deflection by Jonathan Toews from the slot that spoiled Fleury's shutout bid.
The Wild finished 1 for 2 with the man advantage, while Chicago was 1 for 5.
